BEAVERTON -- Several months ago, the Tualatin Valley Water District stopped televising every board meeting to save money.

But after public uproar and a reversal by a key board member, the district will change course.

With public mistrust of government high and several big decisions looming -- the most important whether to take drinking water from the Willamette River or more from Henry Hagg Lake -- now is not the time to reduce public access, Commissioner Jim Doane said at Wednesday night's board meeting. Afterward, he said it would be like C-SPAN suddenly no longer televising Congress. That would make him suspicious.

So in addition to televising every board meeting, the district will stream video of the meetings live on its Web site, keep a library of downloadable meetings on the Web and offer CDs for the public to take home.

"The more we can do, the more transparent we can be," Doane said Wednesday night. "I've come full circle on that. These things are pretty darn important."

Doane's arguments appeared to sway board members Jim Duggan and Dick Schmidt. Commissioner Marie Haynes, who was elected on a platform of opposing the Willamette option, had always opposed cutting back on videotaping the meetings.

That left board president Richard Burke, who took the original proposal one step further. Instead of cutting back to televising four key meetings each year, Burke proposed canceling the district's contract with Tualatin Valley Community Television. Instead, the district would rely on citizen watchdogs, who started videotaping the meetings after the district cut back.

Burke said it was his idea to stream the meetings as an alternative to televising.

"I'm not against transparency at all," he said. "Very few people watch it and it costs us hundreds of dollars each time."

But at a minimum of $700 for each meeting, it's not a lot of money, Doane said. And even if only 9 percent of district customers have ever watched a meeting on television, as a district survey showed, Doane said they should have the opportunity.

"The more, the better, that's where I'm coming from," he said.

That earned him a round of applause from the crowd of 40 at the meeting and a 4-1 board vote to televise every meeting.